Child Maltreatment Experience and the Trajectory of Self-Regulation in Prenatal Cocaine Exposed Adolescents

Background: Child maltreatment is known to exert detrimental impacts on the victim’s physical, behavioral, and psychological health outcomes, including self-regulatory ability. Adolescent self-regulation is a good indicator of successful development during this stressful transitional period. Prenatal cocaine-exposed (PCE) adolescents are more likely to be raised in a suboptimal caregiving environment, which might prohibit PCE adolescents from developing optimal self-regulation. However, the long-term effect of child maltreatment on the development of self-regulation has been given little attention despite the important role of self-regulation in vulnerable PCE adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the long-term effect of child maltreatment on self-regulation by examining the trajectory of self-regulation from early to late adolescence.

Method: This study examined 338 mother-adolescent dyads (boy: 157, girl: 181) from Project Newborn, a prospective birth cohort study investigating the developmental effects of PCE. Adolescent self-regulation was assessed using the Behavioral Regulation Index from the BRIEF scale at ages 12, 15, and 17: a higher score indicates more problematic self-regulation. Child maltreatment was measured with Parent-Child Conflict Tactics (CPSPC) at age 10. PCE, child sex/race, maternal education, maternal psychological distress, and violence exposure were included as covariates. This data was analyzed with Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) using MPlus to investigate the effect of child maltreatment on the trajectory of self-regulation, controlling for the covariates.

Results: The LGCM analyses fit the data properly (CFI = .97, TLI = .92, RMSEA = .06, SRMR = .03). The results showed that PCE adolescent problematic self-regulation significantly increased during a 5-year period (b = .26, p = .003). Also, higher psychological maltreatment was significantly associated with adolescents’ higher initial level of problematic self-regulation (b = .36, p = .001) and associated with a lower rate of change in problematic self-regulation over time (b = .170, p = .015). Adolescents with child maltreatment experience are more likely to have problematic self-regulation and to show enhanced self-regulation over time. At baseline, being white and having greater violence exposure were associated with higher problematic self-regulation. For boys, there was no significant difference in the initial level of self-regulation with girls, however, the decreased rate of problematic self-regulation over time was lower than for girls. Adolescents with higher maternal distress showed higher initial levels of problematic self-regulation and less decreased rate of problematic self-regulation over time.

Discussion: Previous literature has indicated that problematic self-regulation decreases during adolescence through socialization processes. However, this study found that the level of problematic self-regulation increased during five years among PCE adolescence, and psychological maltreatment experience has harmful effects on the developmental course of self-regulation over time, especially for boys and PCE adolescents exposed to maternal psychological distress. Given the critical role of self-regulation during adolescence and the long-term negative effects of psychological maltreatment, it is important to establish a long-term prevention plans to mitigate the effects of maltreatment and provide care for maltreatment victims.